A poll released today from Quinnipiac University shows Gov. John Kasich has some selling to do to win support from voters for tax reforms proposed in his two-year-budget plan.Plain Dealer

Gov. John Kasich’s rising popularity among Ohioans hasn’t translated into strong support for his bold tax reform plan that would broaden the state’s sales tax while cutting the income tax rates.

A poll released today by Quinnipiac University found that 48 percent of voters surveyed say the plan, which would expand the sales tax to cover many services regularly purchased by consumers, is a bad idea. Forty-two percent supported the idea.

In the same poll, Ohioans favored the expansion of Medicaid to cover low income earners up to 138 percent of the poverty line by the same split of 48 to 42 percent. That support broke along party lines, though. Sixty-five percent of Republicans polled said they opposed it. Seventy-one percent of Democrats polled favored it.

And Quinnipiac found, as it has in other states where it has conducted polling, that an overwhelming percentage of voters favor background checks for all gun purchases. Ninety percent of Ohio voters, including 86 percent in households where there is a gun, favor the idea.

The poll was conducted from Feb. 21 to 26. Quinnipiac surveyed 1,011 registered voters with calls on landlines and cell phones. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.

Fifty-three percent of the respondents gave Kasich a favorable job approval rating, his highest yet. But that didn’t translate to support for the tax changes in his budget proposal.

“Gov. John Kasich is popular, but voters don’t like his view that the income tax should be cut and the sales tax broadened as a preferable way to raise state revenue,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. When it is explained that the plan would cut the sales tax from 5.5 to 5 percent and increase the services that would be subject to the sales tax, they like that idea even less, 51 – 40 percent.

While a plurality of voters favored expanding Medicaid in the state, they the poll showed they have not embraced “Obamacare.” Kasich, in endorsing the expansion of Medicaid, has made it clear he is not a fan of the reforms in the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act.

In the poll, 39 percent of Ohio voters said that the new health law will hurt rather than help
them personally. Only 14 percent said it would help. Another 39 percent say it won’t affect them.

And while there was strong support for background checks, Ohio voters by a much smaller margin, 53 to 44 percent, said they favored a nationwide ban on assault weapon. Gun-owners oppose such a ban 60 – 38 percent.

The poll found support for the belief that gun ownership makes people safer rather than less
safe. That view was favorer by a margin of 57 to 33 percent.

And the National Rifle Association fared better than President Barack Obama when voters were asked who best reflects their views. Forty-nine percent said the NRA while only 40 percent picked the president.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.